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African Spirits Speak: A White Woman's Journey into the Healing Tradition of the Sangoma
 
 
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African Spirits Speak: A White Woman's Journey into the Healing Tradition of the Sangoma [Paperback]

Nicky Arden (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Book Description

February 1, 1999
The moving story of an expatriate coming to terms with her country's history, and her joyous spiritual and emotional rebirth as an African healer. 


• One of the first accounts of the mysterious sangomas, the healers of South Africa's black population. 


• A mystical journey that will appeal to those wishing to reunite with their roots and a more spiritual life.


Set against the stirring backdrop of a crumbling apartheid regime, African Spirits Speak is the lyrical account of white South African Nicky Arden's journey into the world of the sangomas, the diviners, doctors, psychologists, and priests of South Africa's black population. 

While in her early twenties Nicky fled South Africa with her husband as the stranglehold of apartheid tightened on her native land. For twenty-two years they lived in California as expatriates--never once returning to their homeland--until a deep depression, followed by a spiritual awakening in the California desert, compelled Nicky to return to South Africa. During her visit, while exploring deep in the bush, she unexpectedly met an old black medicine woman--a sangoma. This meeting would change her life. Few white South Africans are even aware of the world of the sangomas, but this prophetic old woman saw in Nicky the spirit of a fellow healer and set the author on a mystical journey that would reunite her soul with its African roots. Thus began her astonishing and complex initiation into a nearly unknown world and her quest to discover the truth about herself and her heritage.


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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A fascinating account of [the author's] search for acceptance by a tribal community. . . . Highly recommended for collections on social sciences, women's studies, and spirituality."
(

Library Journal

)

"A strong and unusually concrete spiritual memoir."
(

Kirkus Reviews

)

"African Spirits Speak is a poignant initiatory dive into the self.. . .Nicky Arden brings courage and wisdom back from her journeys to share with us all. The clear bell that she rings is truly a gift."
(

Malidoma Some, author of The Healing Wisdom of Africa

)

"A rich earthy, heart-wrenching account, this is a difficult book to put down once the journey has begun; the reader is advised to set aside plenty of time to absorb it. "
(

Napra ReView, May/June 1999

)

About the Author

Nicky Arden is the former director of San Diego Youth and Community Services, a social service agency. She and her husband divide their time between San Diego, California, and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Destiny Books (February 1, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0892817526
  • ISBN-13: 978-0892817528
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,182,615 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable. I couldn't put it down., July 25, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: African Spirits Speak: A White Woman's Journey into the Healing Tradition of the Sangoma (Paperback)
I started browsing this book and couldn't put it down until I read every word. What a brave and fascinating adventure story. What a insightful and honest look into the sacred Sangoma tradition. An absolute "must read" for anyone interested in indigenous spirituality and culture. I loved it!
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you for writing this book, November 17, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: African Spirits Speak: A White Woman's Journey into the Healing Tradition of the Sangoma (Paperback)
Thank you so much for writing this book. Thank you for revealing your personal journey so tenderly, so honestly, honoring your western influence and yet opening to the mysteries of the unknown and yet familiar. Thank you for reminding me of the Great Web, the weaver and the thread. Thank you for this book that sits in my lap urging me to continue following my own path of healing.
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13 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Very peculiar book, May 19, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: African Spirits Speak: A White Woman's Journey into the Healing Tradition of the Sangoma (Paperback)
As a Woman of Color, I'm not sure what to make of this affluent and educationally priviledged white woman's 'journey' to South Africa and its healing tradition. Self-congratulation at the expense of discerning the structuring of Difference seems to be the keynote here. But I suppose the 'Heart of Darkness' fantasy/nightmare lives on in a contemporary hypocrisy; yet it is not usually so grotesque as it appears here. The tremendous courage and intelligence of other theorists, especially of course African American writers but also a few white writers, who write on Africa and its glorious tradition, remains a great Spiritual resource for me. This book most certainly does not number among the books which I would recommend to the young African Americans that I teach. I would have wished that this white author had examined the incredibly insightful bell hooks and other important writers' books for an *intelligent* perspective on contemporary African discourse.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
i was born in South Africa, in Durban, of German-Jewish parents. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
other sangomas, mealie pap, sacred corner, minibus taxis, reed mat, pink liquid, spirit name
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
African Spirits Speak, South Africa, Democratic Party, Morongo Valley, The Work Goes, Diagonal Street, Glossop Hotel, Jan Smuts, New York, San Jacinto, Strange Happenings, Country Reborn, Land Rover, Mother Earth, San Diego, Where the Only Sound Is Silence, Wits University, Hyde Park, Ralph Laubscher, The Second Night
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